Fortnite Battle Royale tips and tricks, building tips, plus PUBG differences you should know about

Fortnite has seen a recent surge in popularity, enjoying some of the success PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has seen with its own (very similar) take on the genre, boosted by the fact it being both free and on consoles.

While many Fortnite Battle Royale tips and tricks will also apply to playing other Battle Royale games such as PUBG, there is of course enough significant differences to note and exploit which will help you last as long as possible.

From when to build, how to find treasure chests and the best ways to stay hidden, here's many Fortnite Battle Royale tips, tricks and differences.

Essential Fortnite Battle Royale tips and tricks

No matter what Battle Royale game you are playing, there are a number of best practices you should follow to help you survive.

When moving from one location or building to the next, avoid running out in the open if you can help it. Use the cover of trees, buildings or cliffs to help you avoid getting spotted. If you get caught unprepared in someone's cross-hairs, you'll last barely a few seconds.

Even if you have reached the safe circle, don't assume every other player is also there, as more will be coming from the outside in. Remember this to not only avoid getting shot in the back, but also to your advantage, especially if you can pick advancing players off from the safety of a nearby building.

Choose carefully where you want to drop into at the start of a match.

If you do see a player, or hear gunshots nearby, carefully weigh up whether you should approach, as you could easily be outgunned and outnumbered. On the flipside, you could also approach the end of firefight when all other combatants are injured. The reward for taking on other players could be valuable weapons and ammo - but it could also mean the end of your run.

Headphones are almost essential for playing, allowing you to hear players coming toward you. In Fortnite Battle Royale the sound of movement feels louder louder than most other shooters, giving you ample opportunity to prepare for oncoming adversaries.

Weapons and resources spawn in buildings and structures, and like PUBG, appears more frequently in populated areas. This doesn't immediately mean you should go there, as they will attract other players doing the same thing. Again, you need to weigh up the risk reward of getting better loot while also coming up against more competition. It's always possible to strike a balance, building up the confidence to explore villages as your arsenal grows, or even ignore most buildings entirely.

Routes to a destination are many and varied - and it's up to you if you want to try and fight others along the way.

A long held practice in Battle Royale games is closing the door behind you when entering buildings. That way, it looks like no one has entered, so you can catch possible on-comers by surprise. Conversely, you could keep the door open as a warning to other players, or pretend the house has been looted and left abandoned - such is the mind games involving open and closed doors!

You ideally want weapons for a range of scenarios - shotguns for up close, rifles for mid-range fights and if you can get it, a sniper at a distance. Healing items are pretty rare but a bandage or med-kit is perfect to have as a backup following close scrapes.

More Fortnite tips and tricks and PUBG differences you should know about

Now we have the essentials out the way, what about the particulars of getting around, kitting up with weapons and avoiding the storm? Though we compare many of these differences to how PUBG does things, all of these tricks are still useful even if you've never played a Battle Royale game before.

Movement and using the map

You cannot go prone in Fortnite, meaning hiding in the long grass or slowly worming your way to a building is impossible.

Not only is moving much louder than in PUBG - helpful to learn where people are coming from - but sprinting will leave behind a dust trail, helping you identify players from a distance. Remember this especially if you're forced to move out in the open.

Sprinting will make you more visible (and audible) to other players.

You can crouch to help hide your presence as much as possible, and move faster with crouching by hitting sprint as you would when standing upright.

Bullets leave tracers in Fortnite, so you can better tell the direction they are firing from.

If you see a pile of tires, you can walk into them to spring you high into the air. This is great for getting onto the roofs of buildings for a vantage point, or if you are being chased, a speedy means of evasion.

Tires can see you spring up in the air - useful for scaling heights if you run out of building resources.

Using the map and weathering the storm

Always use your map to plan your route effectively to the safe circle.

There are no vehicles in Fortnite, however with the map being much smaller in size, it's much easier to get to the safe circle in time before the storm sets in. Even if the circle is on the other side of the island, there is always enough time to get there if you plan effectively.

You can survive in the storm for a while.

Your sprint cannot outrun the storm, however like PUBG, you can stay in it for a generous period of time while your health slowly depletes, so don't panic.

Though you should avoid the storm, some regard staying in edge of the storm as a tactic, especially in later stages so you can shoot from the outside in. Of course, this entirely depends on your position, your gear, your health and so on.

With the map being smaller in size, it is much higher density than most PUBG matches, meaning players encounter each other faster. Keep this in mind while exploring.

Though smaller than PUBG's map, there's still a lot of ground to cover in Fortnite Battle Royale's island.

Weapons and ammo

Weapon and ammo glow and float in the air, so it's easier to see what you might need from a distance.

The same applies when players die, too, so no need to check a body to know exactly what's up for grabs.

The colour of a weapon instantly tells you how good it is.

You can also get weapons and resources from Treasure Chests inside buildings, which can almost always hear before you see, thanks to their telltale shimmering noise. These often have rare loot and a handful of resources, so they are well worth tracking down. Look everywhere - other rooms, basements, upstairs - and don't be afraid to knock a wall or two down to reach it.

Weapons work much differently than PUBG. There are no separate attachments, with weapons coming already equipped with scopes and other modifiers already attached.

Each weapon also has five different grades of rarity. If you play Destiny, it's the exact same colour scheme; gray being the most common, then green, blue, purple and orange as the rarest - with each stage increasing a weapon's DPS (or Damage Per Second). In short, the rarer the gun, the more effective it is when it comes to dealing damage.

Other things to know about Fortnite Battle Royale:

The higher you rank, the more XP you earn, helping you level up your Season Battle Pass rank to earn more rewards. Keep an eye on Challenges, too.

Much like PUBG, solo players teaming up is not allowed and is a bannable offense if caught.

Unlike PUBG, however, there are no plans to introduce a first-person mode in Fortnite.

If you are hoping to see many of the above differences in action, see our video comparing Fortnite Battle Royale to PUBG:

Fortnite Battle Royale building tips

A key difference between Fortnite and PUBG is the ability to build walls, floors, roofs and traps using an in-game builder tool.

This allows you to create bridges, shacks and towers as both cover and vantage points, which in the right location - such as on a vantage point - can give you an edge over the competition.

You can build just about anywhere.

Since the contracting circle is constantly shifting, it's foolish to build anything substantial early in the game. Instead, wait until the final few phases - when it's obvious where the final playing field is, and you are hunkered down waiting for players to come to you - before start building.

It's also a good time to use any Traps you've collected along the way, especially if you can funnel players into a single entry point.

Remember there are Combat and Building controls to learn.

Not only does this mean you aren't wasting time, but you're saving precious resources, too. Resources can be found lying around like weapons and ammo, from opening Treasure Chests, and from destroying objects.

Unlike PUBG, you can destroy pretty much anything from the game and get resources for it. Switch to your pickaxe (hold Triangle or Y on a controller) and start hacking away.

The object you destroy should naturally correspond to a resource. Barrels, wooden floors and even trees give you wood, while metal shelving units and vehicles will give you steel.

You can't ride vehicles, but you can smash them to bits for precious resources.

This is a useful activity to keep you busy while you are waiting for the circle to contract or the storm timer to count down. Note that destruction is on the noisy side, so avoid doing it where you think players might be close by.

You can also use destruction tactically during combat and exploration. Cover points can be destroyed with weapons, and flooring can be removed if you know a player - or a hard-to-reach treasure chest - is above you.